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There are approximately 1.8 million such students enrolled in tertiary courses across the bloc, including undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

Within the bloc, Luxembourg has the highest share of foreign students in this category (52.3%), followed by Malta (29.6%) and Cyprus (22.3%).

Greece (3.0%), Croatia (3.7%) and Spain (4.3%) reported the lowest shares.

Asians make up majority of foreign students in Germany

Most foreign students usually come from elsewhere in Europe, but there are some notable exceptions.

For example, students from Asian make up the largest group in Ireland (45.0%), Finland (43.35%), Germany (40.1%) and Italy (36%).

The overwhelming majority of Asian students in the EU (169,827) chose Germany for their studies. However the number is even bigger in Turkey: 213.922.

Africans largest foreign group in France and Portugal

Meanwhile, African students are the most prominent in France, almost 145,000, and in Portugal, 24,000, accounting for 52% and 42% of all foreign tertiary students there, respectively.

In Spain, the largest share of foreign students (46.7%) is from the Caribbean, Central and South America. In the remaining 20 EU countries, the largest group of foreign students is European.

The highest proportions of European foreign students are in Slovakia (91.3%), Slovenia (89.4%) and Croatia (89.0%).